Saints + Scripture: VI Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Popish Plot
"The Many, Many Reasons to Join the Knights of Columbus"

'Tis the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Week
Mass Readings—Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Book of Jeremiah, chapter seventeen, verses five thru eight;
Psalm One, verses one & two, three, & four & six;
The First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter fifteen, verses twelve & sixteen thru twenty;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter six, verses seventeen & twenty thru twenty-six.

Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, our Gospel for today is Luke’s version of the Beatitudes, less well known than Matthew’s but actually punchier, more to the point. It all hinges on that decisively important spiritual attitude of detachment—apatheia in the Greek fathers, indifferencia in Ignatius of Loyola. It means that I am unattached to worldly values that become a substitute for the ultimate good of God.

How bluntly Luke’s Jesus puts things. Look at Luke’s first beatitude, a model for all: “Blessed are you poor; the reign of God is yours.” What if we translated this as, “How lucky you are if you are not addicted to material things.” When we place material things in the center of our concerns, we find ourselves caught in an addictive pattern.

Because material goods don’t satisfy the hunger in my soul, I convince myself that I need more of them. So I strive and work to get more nice things—cars, homes, TVs, clothes—and then I find that those don’t satisfy me. So I strive and strive, and the rhythm continues.

Therefore, how lucky I would be if I were poor, unattached to material goods, finally indifferent to them.

Video reflection by Father Greg Friedman: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Video reflection by Father Claude Burns (uCatholic): Weekend Reflection with Father Pontifex.

Audio reflection by Scott Hahn, Ph.D. (St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology): Breaking the Bread.

Scripture Study—Exodus 90: Day 28
The Book of Exodus, chapter twelve, verses twenty-one thru twenty-eight.

Commentary: The Passover Instituted (cont'd; Exodus, 21:21-28).

Mass Journal: Week Twelve
Reflection by Matthew Kelly, founder of the Dynamic Catholic Institute:

The Catechism of the Catholic Church wastes no time in addressing this truth. The opening point of Chapter One, Section One reads, "The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God & for God; & God never ceases to draw man to Himself. Only in God will man find the truth & happiness he never stops yearning for.

†

Otherwise, 17 February would be the festival of Saint Lommán of Trim, Bishop (died circa 450; also spelt Lonan, Luman, etc.; A.K.A. Lommán mac Dalláin): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Nephew of St. Patrick [17 March].

'Twould also be the festival of Saint Silvin of Auchy, Bishop, O.S.B. (circa 650-718, A.K.A. of Thérouanne): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Twould also be the festival of Saint Evermode of Ratzeburg, Bishop & Abbot, O. Præm. (circa 1100-1178, also spelt Evermod): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Twould also be the festival of Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order, formally the Order of Servants of Mary (O.S.M., floruit 1240): Saints-link ūnus, Saints-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Quoth Minute Meditations from the Popes:

O Lord, the seven founders of the Servites followed the example of Mary Your Mother in serving God's People. Help me to learn that same generosity & live it everyday of my life.

'Twould also be the festival of Blessed Luke Belludi, Religious, O.F.M. (circa 1200-1285): Blessed-link ūnus, Blessed-link duo, & Wikipedia-link (List, by date of death).

Papal Quote o' the Day

"Mary is the clearest & surest sign that God always comes to us with His love. She sings with all her being that whatever we receive from God is grace. The Virgin is our true teacher in the journey of faith."
—Pope St. John Paul II the Great (1920-2005, feast day: 22 October)

Little Flower Quote o' the Day

"God would not give you the desire to be possessed by Him, by His Merciful Love if He were not reserving this favor for you."
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"Samson, the strong man, fell in love with a woman named Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines went up to the country to see her and said, 'Coax him and find out what gives him his great strength, & how we can master him, bind him, & hold him captive.' And Delilah tried to find out what gave Samson strength, until finally he told her the secret.

"He said, 'If my head were shaved, then my strength would leave me & I should become as weak as any other man.' Delilah then told the Philistines. She lulled Samson to sleep on her knees & summoned a man, & he shaved the seven locks of Samson's hair for her, & they made him captive. And Samson's strength left him. But the strength was not in the hair, as is so often erroneously said. Samson had taken the Nazirite vow which committed him first to totally abstain from women & from strong wine. The growing of the hair was a symbol of that vow, so that the cutting of the hair was also the symbol of the breaking of the vow.

"And then Delilah cried, 'The Philistines are upon you, Samson.' He woke from his sleep and said, 'I will go out as usual & shake myself.' In other words, I'm as strong as I ever was. He did not know that the Lord had left him. We're not as strong as we were."
—Venerable Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979)